Drinkable Lake Water
Parker Wilson
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this project is to find the most safe and
effective method to filter unclean lake water to become fit
for drinking. Specifically, the three methods of; boiling,
solar, and application of chlorine tablets. The process
used to determine the most effective water purification
method is its ability to filter out chemicals, kill bacteria,
and reduce the amount of total dissolved solids. The
application of this research could allow people to provide
themselves with drinkable water knowing that they are
using the most effective and safe process possible for
treating the water that they need to drink.
EXPIREMENTAL DESIGN
Three things that determine the success of the tests.
First, is the amount of chemicals that they manage to
remove from the water, specifically the presence of
chlorine, iron, copper, lead, nitrate, nitrite and fluoride.
Along with the ability to kill coliform bacteria, which is
a bacteria that is created in the intestines of creatures,
such as those native in a lake, that are known to cause
the illness E.coli and are a major threat when
consuming lake water. Lastly, is the filtering of TDS (
Total Dissolved Solids), which is a measure of the
number of dissolved solvents in the liquid per the liquid
itself. However, it isn’t always a measure of harmful
substance but any difference in its concentration is a
sign of effective purification. The hypothesis is that the
chlorine tablets will prove the most effective method
for removing chemicals, bacteria, and the total
hardness. The control variable is the water being
filtered via each method, the independent variable
would be the amount of water used in each purification
process, and the dependent variable is the amount of
contamination remaining in each water sample.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials
● 4 Gallons of unfiltered lake water
● 1 HoneForest temp and TDS meter
● 100 SJ wave 16 in one test strips
● 1 H2Ok Prolab’s water test kit
● 1 glass container
● 1 3-liter boiling pot
● 6 Varify Bacteria tests
Table 1.
Image 1
Coliform Bacteria Tests
The above image shows the results from the tests for coliform bacteria.
Despite all being the same color, only the far-left control group shows signs of coliform presence as it
was taken with a different test because the original H2Ook test kit only had one coliform test that
happened to have yellow as the indicator color while the Varify tests that were used for the
experiment tests used yellow as the color for absence of bacteria.
Method
1. Obtain 4 gallons of lake water
2. Test lake water for harmful substances
3. Expose .75 liters of water to the sun for 6 hours
4. Boil 1 liter of water for 3 minutes
5. Apply an Aquatab Chlorine tablet to 2 liters of water
6. Analyze results of tests and compare them to original samples
7. Repeat steps 2-6 this time testing for coliform bacteria
8. Repeat steps 3-6 for each methods effect on TDS
Table 2.
Image 2.
Image 3.
RESULTS
The results gathered showed that all methods were able to
remove harmful chemicals on account of there not being any
present. This is to be expected as any lake harboring enough
copper or nitrite for it to be picked up on a test strip would be
incapable of supporting life. The results also showed that each
method was able to kill any possibly harmful coliform bacteria.
However, the results for filtering out TDS had varying results.
Using UV radiation to purify the water caused the levels of
potential solids to remain the same. Dissolving the chlorine tabs
in the water caused the TDS to go up as now there was a tablet’s
worth of concentrated chlorine also in the water. Boiling the
water caused the total TDS to jump to around twice its original
value. This is because boiling causes steam to evaporate and
leave behind the dissolved solids, massively increasing their
concentration in parts per milliliter.
CONCLUSIONS
The original hypothesis was proven wrong as each individual
method is just as capable of killing off any potentially harmful
bacteria as the others, but that doesn’t mean each method is as
safe as the others. Boiling the water has shown to massively
increase the concentration of all possibly harmful solids, making
any harmful substances within the water even more dangerous.
Chlorine purification can be effective but also dangerous if done
incorrectly, if one tablet is applied to any less than 2 liters of
water then the concentration of chlorine then becomes too
dangerous for consumption as it can cause damage to
microorganisms in the body. Meaning that the safest from of
tested water purification is solar, as it was the only tested
method that managed to kill the harmful bacteria without
causing any additional health risks.
REFERENCES
Bevill, M. (2016, January 4). How to Purify Water Using the Sun. Sunshine on My Shoulder Solar Cooking Guide.
https://www.sunshineonmyshoulder.com/how-to-purify-water-using-the-
sun/#:~:text=Solar%20radiation%20can%20purify%20water%20and%20make%20it
Institute, M. S., EdD Sunlight. (2014, January 2). Sanitizing with Sunlight: the Best Disinfectant Know. Sunlight
Institute. https://sunlightinstitute.org/sanitizing-with-sunlight-the-best-disinfectant-
know/#:~:text=In%201890%2C%20the%20German%20microbiologist%20Robert%20Koch%20%28w
ho
What does a positive test for coliform mean? – KnowledgeBurrow.com. (n.d.). Knowledgeburrow.com. Retrieved
December 5, 2022, from https://knowledgeburrow.com/what-does-a-positive-test-for-coliform-
mean/#:~:text=How%20does%20a%20coliform%20test%20work%3F%20When%20using